Apple wins injunction hearing on Motorola slide-to-unlock in Germany
Judge Dr. Peter Guntz of the Munich Regional Court has ruled in Apple’s favor, granting the Cupertino-based company a permanent injunction against Motorola’s implementation of slide-to-unlock in their smartphones. Judge Guntz agreed with Apple’s claims that the Moto’s UI element infringed upon patent EP1964022, which awards the slide-to-unlock software element to the maker of the iPhone and iPad. The injunction could lead to a ban of certain Motorola devices in Germany.
While the victory is a big one for Apple, it wasn’t a flawless victory. The company filed three complaints, but only two pertaining to smartphones ended with rulings in their favor. The third dealt with the Motorola XOOM tablet, which was ruled to fall outside of the realm of the patent. Samsung is currently facing similar litigation over alleged infringements of Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent. With today’s decision things aren’t looking much brighter for the mobile maker out of Korea.
[via FOSS Patents]